of all things...oranges

I've recently discovered I have an issue with product labeling. As I've learned to pay attention to what's in our food, I've also learned that the ingredient list is not always as clear as we think.
I've learned that a small bag of chips can say it has 0 grams of trans fat when in reality, as long as it's less than .5 grams per serving they can call it 0.

For example, a bag of chips with 10 servings in the bag says 0 grams of trans fat per serving, the ingredient list can clearly state it has hydrogenated oils (trans fat) and, therefore, we know it has trans fat!

Let's say it hypothetically has .4 grams per serving and we ate half the bag...that's two grams of trans fat right there! If this is what's happening in all of our food then we are being mislead and are actually still eating quite a bit of TRANS FAT!

Tonight I read an article about orange juice.

I had no clue that orange juice could be so processed. I've always told my kids I prefer not to buy it because it's mostly sugar. In my opinion they need to eat the orange.

Here is what I learned...

In general, oranges are picked and squeezed shortly after harvest. Then the juice is pasteurized at high temperatures to kill bacteria, which also kills some of the flavor. The juice is then stored in tanks for up to a year. The tanks have the oxygen extracted to prevent oxidation and nitrogen is added to the tank to preserve it but that also removes flavor.

When it's time to make the orange juice for sale, a company is hired to make a flavoring for the orange juice so that it tastes good. Basically, it's flavor has been removed because of all the processing and then technicians add flavor packets.

These flavor packets are highly engineered additives made from essential orange flavor volatiles that have been harvested from from the fruit and it's skin and chemically reassembled by scientists at leading fragrance companies.

These additives do not have to be listed on the ingredient list because they originated from the fruit.

Hmmmmm, this stuff is highly processed!

And don't get me started on ethyl butyrate...yes it occurs naturally in oranges but the natural part is mostly stripped during pasteurization and then high amounts added back to the orange juice in the flavor packets. High amounts of ethyl butyrate added chemically seem not as safe as naturally occurring!!!